Summer Love
by Bhria-hime
Summary: Sakura expected to find many things on her summer camping trip. Love was definitely NOT one of them. Especially when her love is Sasuke Uchiha.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**I'm Back! My other story 'What is Love' is going to be deleted. I don't really like that story. Here is my new multi-chapter story! I hope you like it!**

To: s3xyblond3

From: VerryCherry28

Subject: Oh My Gawd!!

Hey! Summer is going to be freakin' awesome. I am talking hot guys, sand and sun twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I can't wait until we leave tomorrow! I think I am gonna break my EnV from all this excitement? Oh, I heard that your little Shika-kun was coming too! Do I smell love?

To: VerryCherry28

From: s3xyblond3

Subject: …

God, Forehead, why are you so naive? I made it clear to you that I don't like Shikamaru the way you think I do. And remember, we are going to some camp where there are bug loving freaks for guys. You want to call them 'hot'? I have seen bread a lot hotter than that!

P.S – And as for your smell…I thought you lost that sense a long time ago?

To: s3xyblond3

From: VerryCherry28

Summer: Ever heard of imagination?

In case you didn't know, there is such thing called an imagination. But of course you wouldn't know that if it bit you in the ass because you lack the sense of _knowledge_. And creativity. I know that it is a camp but there is a beach there and there is nothing cuter than a nature boy. Seriously, have you not seen Tarzan??

P.S- No comment!

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Sakura closed her EnV and laid flat on her bed. This summer was going to be different because she was going to summer camp. But it wasn't just _any_ summer camp. Her best friend in the world would be going with her along with a few of her sophomore classmates. This was her huge transformation from a sophomore to a junior. It may not seem like a big deal but to her, it was an enormous matter. It would be her time to straighten things out with her world.

Her mom was reluctant at first to let her go, which Sakura understood clearly. It took a lot of convincing but she did it. She heard that a few of the ex-sophomores were going but she didn't know everyone by name. All she knew was tomorrow was going to be the start of the best summer of her life.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Saturday morning was hectic as Sakura and her mother were packing up the car and getting ready to go to her school. They had plenty of time, but Sakura wanted to make sure that she didn't leave anything behind.

"Sakura, lock the door behind you and come on! I have all your bags all ready packed in the trunk. The only thing missing is you." Her mom yelled from the driveway.

Sakura ran outside to her moms black Chrysler Town and Country and hopped into the passenger seat. She saw her dog Emma sitting on the back seat staring out of the window.

"You ready?" Sakura's mom asked her as soon as she clicked on her seatbelt.

"You bet!" Though Sakura's response had sounded as confident as guys are about… well life, her mother knew she was a nervous wreck. She had to admit her daughter had a strong façade.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The ride to Konoha High was smooth. An occasional pot hole would cause Emma to yelp and Sakura to hit her head on the window, but that was about it.

As the car stopped, Sakura looked at her mom to see if she had any last words before they departed for seven weeks.

"Sakura, be safe okay? Stay with your group, don't talk to any weird trees and go to bed on time?"

How did she know that was coming? "I promise I will be safe mom. And don't worry; my tree-talking habit would be of no use, deeming that they won't respond."

"Okay, I love you. Have a great summer." Sakura kissed her mom and Emma and got out of the car with all of her luggage and watched as her mom drove away.

_Alright summer, here I come!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Across the school lawn, Uchiha Sasuke leaned against the wall of school building, thinking of a million reasons why he shouldn't be here at the moment. He was almost at 999,000 but was stopped.

"Earth to the teme! I was trying to talk to you!" his loudmouth blond friend Naruto screamed.

"I wasn't trying to listen." Sasuke muttered. This only served to enrage the blonde more… if that was possible.

While Naruto was ranting on about Sasuke being an idiot and how many different ramen flavors he brought with him for the trip, Sasuke couldn't help but look at the buses that began to pull up in pairs. When all five busses arrived, he decided he would glare at them but his attention was brought to something, or rather someone else instead.

A pink haired girl was sitting on one of her suitcases and doing something on her phone. He assumed she was texting because she kept closing the phone and opening it.

_I haven't seen her around?_ Sasuke thought.

As if on cue, said pink haired girl looked up and saw him staring dead at her. They held each others' gaze for about nine seconds when the latter suddenly looked away. Sasuke was shocked when she simply resumed to her text messaging. There was no screaming or drooling involved.

With Naruto still ranting in his ear, and thee weird pink-haired girl sitting on her suitcase in her own world, Sasuke couldn't help but think that this was going to be some summer vacation.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

**Here's chapter one for ya! Tell me how you like it! I need feedback and I would really like it…**

**Next Chapter: The Bus Ride**




	2. Chapter 2: The Bus

**Chapter two is here!! I Hope it lives up to your expectations… If not I am so sorry ********. **

**Disclaimer: **** I don't own Naruto. Never did, never will.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"ALRIGHT! Everyone listen up and listen carefully!" The principle Tsunade shouted from the top of the steps of the school building.

"As you are all very well aware, you are about to go on your first trip away from school, with your classmates for a _very _long time. What you need to keep in mind is that you must contain your respect with yourself and gain some for your fellow classmates, if it isn't already there. The teachers that will be accompanying you on this trip are Kakashi and Maito Gai. Shizune here will do a quick check in at least once a week." She pointed to the lady next to her holding a stack of papers. Said lady did a quick wave.

"Once you get on the buses, the details of the trip will be given to you. Don't do anything you're not suppose too and-"

"When are we gonna leave Tsunade-baa-chan! You're killing me here!" Naruto screamed to his principle.

"Shut your mouth Uzumaki before I shut it for you!" Tsunade glared at him as he began to shake. "That will be all. As you see, there are five busses but only two will be used. One coach will be for you guys and Shizune and I will ride the smaller coach behind you. The other three busses don't concern you so don't ask me why they are there!" With that, she walked back into the school and the students began to talk once again.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Sakura looked up to see Ino heading her way. _Thank Kami_ she thought as her best friend pranced toward her. Sakura also noticed that she had more than enough luggage.

"Good Kami, Ino-pig, what the hell did you bring, your house?" Sakura stared in disbelief at her female companion.

"Nope. Just the necessities." Ino looked around and saw Sakura taking out a notebook. "You actually brought your diary on this trip?" Ino asked disgusted.

"Yes, I did. I don't see the big deal with it."

"Why are you always writing in the stupid piece of crap?" Ino half yelled at Sakura.

"The same reason you shop more than you breathe." Sakura looked at her diary and a smile came across her face. She always thought of her diary as her other best friend for times when she felt that she couldn't talk to Ino. This was her seventh diary and she brought a new one just in case she finished her old one during her trip.

"Alright youth! Load the bus! Gather all of your youthful excitement and suitcases and make your way to your bus!" A voice shouted in the distance. With that being said, Sakura and Ino headed for the bus.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Sakura decided to sit next to the window on the bus. It was cool because she had a perfect view of the television and of the passing nature. She decided to sit in the middle section of the bus, knowing that all of the rowdy kids would go towards the back.

She could hear a few girls scream "Sasuke-kun sit next to me!" repeatedly. She kind of felt sorry for the guy. She knew him because of his reputation as the schools heartthrob, but that was about all. Sakura transferred to Konoha High during the second month of school in her sophomore year. She never actually saw his face until that moment earlier.

A boy walked onto the bus with a loud mouth blonde boy trailing him. He had onyx eyes that Sakura wouldn't mind staring at for eternity. She remembered his eyes from this morning. Though she thought he was gazing at her, she decided to look past him, just to be safe. He had a very, _very _nice toned body. He was wearing a pair of denim shorts that reached his angles and a navy blue shirt that had a symbol of the Uchiha fan on the back. He had two bangs in the front of his face while the rest of his hair was slicked back and poufy. It sort of reminded Sakura of a chickens butt. Regardless, he looked too gorgeous to be human. It was a wonder why he had so many fan girls. After staring at him, he decided to sit right in front of her.

Ino wanted to sit behind Sakura so she could chat with her other friends that were sitting in the back. After all, Ino happened to be head cheerleader which meant a lot of popularity. She thought she would be alone in her seat until her friend Hinata showed up!

"Hey Hinata! Come! Sit here." The shy girl did not try to turn down Sakura's offer. Sakura knew that Hinata had a crush on Naruto and deeming that Naruto was sitting directly in front her, she was sure Hinata wouldn't decline the seat invitation.

"Hey Sakura-chan. How are you doing tod-" Hinata was cut off abruptly.

"Hey Hinata! I didn't even see you there! Ah, Sakura-chan! I haven't seen you since you switched out of my class." Naruto yelled as he stood up on the seat. Sakura watched in amusement as her friend turned red. It was a wonder to her as to how Naruto could be so…dense.

"Shut it dobe and sit down." Sasuke pulled Naruto's leg out of the seat causing Naruto to slide down into his seat. Naruto looked at Sasuke and was about to verbally assault him the best way he knew how, when their teachers, Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei walked onto the bus.

As soon as the entire student body saw Kakashi avert his gaze towards them, they began to quiet down. The only person that would have thought to speak freely (and loudly) would have been Naruto. Fortunately, he was beyond fascinated with the lady bug on the floor… until Sasuke stepped on it.

"Teme! Why the hell did you step on Charl-"

"As you know, we are about to go to a campsite that is very far away from here." Kakashi said interrupting Naruto from lecturing Sasuke. "It is important that we go over a few safety rules. One, don't go wondering off because if you do, no one is going to put any effort to try and find you. Two, follow all rules of the camp instructor at all times. This means to be in your cabins at certain times and wake at the right hour."He stopped and was about to make his way to his seat, when he made a look as if he forgot a very important fact and stood firm once again. "So no one says that I didn't tell them, there will be _**NO **_food allowed aside from the meals you will be served. Candy is included." Kakashi was glaring daggers at Naruto when he stated his last line.

He was expecting Naruto to make some sort of smart remark. Instead, Naruto give him a nice grin and began to trace the patterns on the seat in front of him.

_I'm going to have to keep an eye on that knuckle-head_ Kakashi thought.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Right after Kakashi gave out his lecture, Gai decided to 'reinforce' it by repeating it again. The only difference is that is used the word 'youth' or 'youthful' after every other word. Attendance was called and the bus took off.

After five minutes of doing nothing but staring out of the window, Sakura was beyond bored. Her Ipod was in her bag, which was in the compartment above her head. She had her shoulder bag with her, which consisted of her diary, a notebook, a fuzzy pen, a water bottle and her cell phone.

"Hey Hinata!" Hinata directed her attention to her friend. "Do you want to play tic-tac-toe?"

Hinata liked to play with Sakura no matter how silly the game was. On top of that she really wasn't doing anything important either. So, why decline?

"I'm 'x' this time." Hinata said as she pulled out a pen from her shoulder bag.

Their lovely games of tic-tac-toe (A/N: I like this game!) went on for about forty-five minutes until Sakura began to complain that Hinata looked sleepy. Hinata was a tad bit tired, but not enough to drift to dreamland.

"Hinata, why won't you go to sleep? You look exhausted all of a sudden?" Sakura looked at her best friend as worry filled her emerald eyes.

"I'm not tired. I am just a bit restless from sitting still for so long. This has happened before Sakura-chan. There is nothing to worry about."Hinata tried her best to assure her friend.

Unfortunately for Hinata, this was still not enough to convince Sakura. Sakura was a very stubborn person and it would take a lot more energy to convince her. Sadly, energy was something she happened to be very low on at the moment.

"Wait! I know!" Sakura stood up in her seat and began looking through the compartment located above their heads.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing?"

"I'm looking for my neck pillow." Sakura stated as she continued searching through the compartment.

"Sakura-chan, you need to sit down before-"Hinata didn't get to finish her sentence as the bus took a sharp U-turn.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It all happened so fast to Sakura. One second she is reaching for her pillow the next she goes down and lands on the seat.

_It's a good thing that I landed on the seat…WAIT! This is not my seat…_ Sakura's heart began to race as she looked up into the face of Uchiha Sasuke.

The look Sasuke was giving her gave her chills down her spine. He looked very angry and she was wondering where Naruto was when he was needed the most. _He must have gone to the bathroom._

"What are you _doing_?" He asked in a very cold voice.

"I…I fell. Gomen. I didn't mean too-"

"Stop talking. Get. Off. Of. Me." Sasuke said in a very cold yet monotone voice. This was indeed the same girl that ignored him in the morning and as he suspected, she was just another fangirl.

_**SHARNNO! Who the hell does he think he is!! Sexy or not, this guy is getting the boot.**_ Sakura's inner voice was ready to shoot a kitten. On the plus side, Sakura was glad she had a little more control than that. But control or not, Sakura was still pissed.

"I'm starting to wish I hit the floor. Guaranteed, it would have been a much more pleasant fall." Sakura muttered loud enough so the Uchiha heard her. She was hoping that this would somehow ignite another level of ire in the boy, but he kept his stoic look on his face.

After struggling to fight with the motion of the bus, and damning gravity with every bit of her might, Sakura finally got off of the Uchiha and went back to her seat. Hinata swapped seats with her so she wasn't by the window. Sakura didn't mind much. In fact, she didn't mind at all because now she wouldn't have to look at the back of his stupid chicken-ass head. The most important thing to Sakura was that she still managed to get the pillow so Hinata could try to relax.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"Hinata asked with worry in her voice. She knew Sakura was embarrassed but she could have hurt herself.

"I'm fine. Hey what's that over there?" Sakura pointed out of Hinata's window to a welcome sign. "It looks like we finally made it!" Sakura was overwhelmed with glee when she found out that the horrid bus ride was over. There tense atmosphere soon vanished as Kakashi stood up and began to instruct everyone to exit the bus.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Hello, my name is Miko and welcome to Camp Leaf. I know you guys have a lot of luggage with you and you are all sore from hauling it from the bus to these grounds, so I am going to give up your cards and send you off to your cabins." Miko began handing out cards to every student.

"Someone has the same card as you! That will be your partner here for your time at Camp Leaf. We believed in unity, so each cabin has both one of each gender."

Sakura froze at Miko's words. _What if I have to share a cabin with…? No. that is __not __going to happen.__Just relax Sakura, you can do this._ Sakura looked around to see if she could find her partner. After searching, she still found no one. Hope began to ignite in Sakura, telling her that she lucked out and had her own cabin. With that said Sakura skipped to her cabin.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Once inside the cabin, Sakura looked around. There were two doors. One was a bathroom and the other was a closet. There were two beds separated by a nightstand and a divider that split the room in half.

_It's not exactly a hotel but I won't mind living here for a while._ Sakura put her shoulder bag on her bed and got on the floor with the intention of stuffing her suitcases under her bed until later that night. After successfully putting the suitcases in there momentarily rightful spot, she looked up when another figure caught her off guard, which caused her to let out a startled yelp.

Once again, she was staring into the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke, who looked just as surprised as she was.

Sakura mentally groaned.

_This is not good!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Chapter 2 is complete. I liked this chapter. It was fun writing it. I appreciate all of my reviewers. Thank you so very much. I would like a favor? I ask that you send this story to other people so it can be read. I have no idea how to post it in a community. I'll figure it out I presume somehow! Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3: Him

**Hello Gentlemen and gentle ladies! I am back with a vengeance... okay, it's just chapter 3 but I can dream can't I? **

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to?**

Last time on Summer Love:

Once inside the cabin, Sakura looked around. There were two doors. One was a bathroom and the other was a closet. There were two beds separated by a nightstand and a divider that split the room in half.

_It's not exactly a hotel but I won't mind living here for a while._ Sakura put her shoulder bag on her bed and got on the floor with the intention of stuffing her suitcases under her bed until later that night. After successfully putting the suitcases in there momentarily rightful spot, she looked up when another figure caught her off guard, which caused her to let out a startled yelp.

Once again, she was staring into the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke, who looked just as surprised as she was.

Sakura mentally groaned.

_This is not good!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Can I help you?" Sasuke asked with venom tripping on each word.

_Yeah, how about pulling that stick out of your ass for starters_ Sakura thought with a huge smile on her face. The serenity and peacefulness of her inner voice pronouncing that thought, resulted in the outer Sakura releasing a few giggles. When she remembered who she was talking to, she stifled her giggles so fast she put lightning to shame.

"Oh! Gomen! I don't need any help. I assume you are my cabin mate for the summer?" Sakura looked at Sasuke and smiled at the level of braveness in her voice.

"Hn." Sasuke turned around and walked to his side of the room, sat on his bed and began to gaze out of the window. Sakura looked at him for two seconds and resumed her business on her side. Just when she thought she was safe from tense atmospheres' Grays Anatomy came around and practically pimped-slapped her…with baby powder on each disgusting hand. Sakura felt this blow and decided she just wasn't made to be happy but she would make the best of what little joy she had.

"Excuse me!" Miko burst through the door to Sasuke and Sakura's Cabin and plastered the biggest, warmest (albeit weird) smile on her face. "We are going to be going over guidelines and beginning our long list of activities so lets' go!" With that being said, Sakura and Sasuke followed a very chessy Miko to the campfire area where they would hold this 'meeting' about the camp.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The guidelines weren't anything new. They went over this time and time again with Kakashi and Gai on the bus. They were told to be up and about by 8:00 a.m. and breakfast would be served by 8:30 a.m. They had to be in their rightful cabins by 11:00. Anyone caught in the wrong cabin or caught sneaking out would suffer consequences. Shower time was to be altered between both cabin mates and any camper that decides to act out of term would suffer consequences.

sakura saw Ino across the camp talking to Shikamaru. '_Looks like a certain someone is going to have a very happy summer.' _Sakura was about to walk across the camp fire site to mess with her best friend but was stopped by the sound of a whistle.

"Alright youthful campers! Listen to what your counselor has to say to you!" Gai was standing in the middle of the camp fire, which consisted of a fire-like pit where the fire would obviously be put.

"YOSH! Gai-sensei is right! Let us expand our youth by-"

"Thank you but I can take it from here." Miko said while placing a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Alright! The first activity should be very simple. You are going to find your cabin partner and you two are going to play twenty-one questions. It should be very simple. Once you and your partners are finished you are to report back to the camp and we will do one community building activity before reporting to the cafeteria for dinner." Miko blew on her whistle which signaled for all the campers to begin.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

If this was a game of hide and seek, she would surely be losing. Sakura had been looking for Sasuke for the past ten minutes and she still saw no trace of him. He could be everywhere deeming that everyone was split up all around the camping grounds.

She continued her search a little while longer and decided to rest when she cam across a small stream. It was a very peaceful area. She only wished she could find Sasuke so she could get this stupid game over with. '_Stupid chicken! Who the hell does he think he is! Well, two could play this game.' _Sakura had decided that if he didn't want to be found, she wasn't going to try and find him. She was about to walk back to her cabin when a hand grabbed her wrist and turned her around.

"Hn. You can't report back to Miko unless you complete the task." Sasuke let her wrist go and sat down on the rock( more of a boulder) that Sakura was sitting on merely two seconds ago.

'_Well, I wasn't the one playing hide-and-find-the-chicken now was I?' _Sakura decided that it would be better to just keep her thoughts and play the game. She turned around and sat on the same rock but an opposite side; there was no reason to sit close to him anyway when the rock was more of a boulder.

"Okay, so I'll go first. What's your favorite color?" Sakura looked at Sasuke as he looked at the small stream below them.

"…Black. Why are we playing this game?" The question came out a lot faster than Sasuke thought it would?

'_What kind of question was that?' "_Umm…I guess because Miko said we had to. Do you have any siblings?"

Sasuke turned his gaze from the stream to her. The aura that was beginning to surround them caused Sakura to stiffen.

"Older Brother. You?"

"No. Unless you consider my dog a sibling. I am close to her and-" Sakura moved her leg to sit in a more comfortable position which resulted in her sliding off the rock. She was about to fall, when Sasuke grabbed her hand and pulled her back up. The warmth of his hand caused Sakura to blush slightly and this did not go unnoticed.

"Why are blushing?" Sasuke asked with a smirk on his face.

Sakura was about ready to roll over and die. First he saves her and then gives her a smirk that made her heart turn to mush. Damn that stupid chicken. "I am not blushing!"

"You didn't answer my question." Sasuke pointed out with that smirk across his face once again.

Now it was Sakura's turn to smirk. "I don't have too. It was my turn to ask you a question and since you went out of term, I'm not obliged to answer." Sasuke's smirk turned into a scowl and he refocused his gaze back to the stream below.

"Che…annoying." Sakura could only giggle at his stubbornness and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks for not letting me bust my behind." She said.

"Whatever." _'Maybe she isn't a fan girl after all' _Sasuke thought.

Their game of twenty-one questions continued with an insult being thrown at Sasuke every few minutes and a smirk being given to Sakura. Sakura pointed out to Sasuke that his hair reminded her of a chickens' butt, though she would never admit that it was very sexy on him. He told her that she was very annoying and had a large forehead which resulted in her pouting and him looking on with amusement clear in his eyes. When the game was over they both stood up and headed back to camp.

"I didn't know chickens knew how to play games that involved so much… interacting with humans." Sakura said in a very taunting manner.

"I didn't know someone with such a large forehead had so little sense." He turned around and smirked at Sakura. He knew her forehead wasn't that large, he just needed something mean to say to keep him on his high horse. Sakura detected the taunting in his voice and went on a rant. Sasuke on the other hand just shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head. '_This is going to be one long summer.' _

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

When Sasuke and Sakura arrived back at the camp fire site, it looked as if just about everyone was there. A few females saw Sasuke and started to scream 'We love you Sasuke-kun' and he rewarded them with a glare and a roll of his eyes. Sakura who was behind him received a few nasty looks from some of the girls but she didn't care. She couldn't help but laugh on the inside to Sasuke's response to all the girls bothering him._ ' I assume he doesn't like them…at all. What a shame.' _ Sakura averted her attention from Sasuke's back to Miko who had a satisfied look on her face.

"Now that you have finished the first activity, we are going to move on to the dining hall and then we do the 1st activity for the night." Miko began walking down a hill and everyone followed her.

"Alright! I hope we have ramen for dinner, right teme?" Naruto yelled as he pulled beside Sasuke. He noticed Sakura was close to Sasuke and decided that he would make a conversation with her instead.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, don't tell me he's your cabin mate for the summer?" Naruto yelled and pointed a finger at Sasuke's head.

"Shut it, dobe." Sasuke stated while walking with his hands still shoved in his pockets and a stoic expression all over his face.

"Bastard! Stop showing off in front of Sakura-chan. She doesn't like you and she is too pretty for you so-" Naruto was never able to finish his sentence because he was whacked in the head by Sasuke.

"I said shut it, dobe."

Sakura looked at the scene and felt her face flush. She was sure it was because Naruto called her pretty but then again, he said that she didn't like Sasuke. _'I don't like Sasuke. He is just my cabin mate' _Sakura repeated again and again to herself. Suddenly, her inner self intervened '_**YEAH YOU DO! HE IS FREAKIN' HOT! STOP LYING TO YOURSLEF!'**_ Inner Sakura was practically screaming and sakura couldn't be more than grateful that she had a lot of willpower. Otherwise, she probably would of listened.

Aside from Sakura seeing Sasuke glance at her from the corner of her eye, and Naruto eating countless bowls of ramen (yes, the cafeteria just so happened to have it), dinner went smoothly. After a while, Sakura turned her gaze from her food to one of her classmates, Kiba, who decided to wink at her. Sasuke followed her gaze and gave Kiba a horrific glare. Sakura noticed this with a lot of pleasure.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

About an hour later, all of the campers were surrounding a lit fire. The fire was beautiful, for it gave off light in the dark woods and heat from the breeze coming rapidly from the lake. Sakura finally sat next to Ino, who was complaining how eating smores would make her fat.

"I hope everyone had fun today! Tomorrow, we will go canoeing and on an eighteen mile hike!" Miko looked slightly worried when everyone got quiet…

"EIGHTEEN MILES!" Someone shouted out.

"Yes, nine miles there and nine miles back."

"Oh!" everyone said as if relieved. When Miko finally realized that the students meant as a total of thirty-six miles, she her eyes widened and she laughed sheepishly.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no! That is absurd and that will take a lot longer than five hours!"

"Well, it is getting late so everyone can start to head back to your cabins now! God night and I will see you tomorrow!"

As everyone stood up, Sakura stood still looking for Sasuke. It was really dark and their cabin was a little _too_ deep into the woods for her liking.

"Sasuke? Are you here?"

"…Do you intend on teleporting back to the cabin?" Sasuke looked at her with a hint of annoyance written on his face.

"I don't know how to teleport…"

"So start walking." Sasuke continued to walk forward to the cabin. Sakura would have made a smart comeback but deeming that he was her '_protector'_, she decided it wouldn't be smart to piss him off. At least, not now.

Sasuke was walking at a pace he would consider irregular( for he was trying to let Sakura keep up) and considered he would go a little faster until he stopped hearing footsteps behind him.

"What are you-"

"Shhh! It's a…bear."

_A bear? What the hell is she talking about?_ He looked in the direction she was looking and then he heard a low growling sound. Immediately, he knew what animal at was, shook his head at Sakura's naїvety, and began walking faster.

Sakura, frightened, ran up to Sasuke and jumped in front of him, hugging his abdomen seeking protection. She blushed when she felt his muscles against her bodied and the thoughts that her inner 

self were implying at the moment but decided to ignore it. Sasuke tensed as quickly as her action had came. Her eyes were shut really tight, and she was afraid to let him go.

"Sasuke, I don't like bears. Please don't abandon me here in the dark with-"

"Annoying. What. Bear?" He gritted through his teeth.

She knew exactly what she was talking about and was slightly angered by the fact the Sasuke was that _stupid_ to not here the bear growling. "The BEAR IN THE FREAKIN' BUSH!" she all but yelled.

Sasuke pried his hands off of her, grabbed her wrist and walked towards the bush.

"Are you referring to this?" Sasuke pulled her in the bush only to reveal a bull frog.

Sakura immediately flushed. Her pigment went from porcelain to tomato red. Sasuke shook his head and continued to walk back to the cabin. Sakura followed, albeit embarrassed. She decided that a good night sleep would help her clear her head.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Once they were back at the cabin, Sakura decided she would get up really early and shower. All she wanted to do was sleep her misery away.

"Night, Sasuke."

"Hn."

When her light breathing was heard across the room, the only thing Sasuke could do was shake his head.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**FINISHED! Hope that didn't take too long. I would like a review please. They make me smile and update faster. Special thanks to all my reviewers:**

**kt.1z.awesome**

**Shellzonfire**

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**SasuSaku13636**

**XxSeriouslyJadedxX**

**foreversnow **


	4. Chapter 4: Her Savior

**So…The chapter that you all have been waiting for! Please excuse me for the late updating. It just that I couldn't think of what to write to save my life! It took a lot of watermelon to write this( I doubt that I will not dehydrate in a **_**long time**_**). I also am thankful to all of the reviewers. I love all of you so very much! **

**This is my birthday gift to everyone!**

**Disclaimer: This is becoming more irritating….**

Sakura opened her eyes only to be closed a split second later due to the sun beaming through her window. She turned away from the window and looked at Sasuke who didn't happen to be in his bed.

'_He must be an earlier riser.' _She thought. With that, Sakura got up from her bed and headed over to the washroom.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

When Sakura arrived at the campsite meeting area, she sat on a log next to Sasuke.

"Good Morning, Sasuke-kun." She said happily. She was doing everything in her power to forget about yesterday.

"…Hn." He grunted without looking her way.

'_Anti-social much?' _she thought to herself. She continued to sit on the log when Miko appeared fifteen minutes later.

"Hello campers!" she all but yelled." As you know, today we will be completing an eighteen mile hike and a trip around the lake. To start off our day, we will do the river rafting! To begin, I want all of you to find a partner. Let's make haste people!"

Sakura looked at the area and couldn't help but feel tranquil. It was as if it was a painting that she had magically entered. There was a beautiful lake that opened up to a waterfall. She couldn't see beyond that point from where she standing but that didn't matter.

Sakura got up and walked over to Hinata. "Hinata, do you want to join me?" she asked.

"Sure. Thanks Sakura-chan." She stated albeit quietly.

Sakura and Hinata walked up to the shed that held all of the equipment. Standing there was a man that looked about Miko's age and had his hair sticking up, as if in spikes.

"The names Iruka." He said. "You ladies need a canoe and two oars."

Iruka walked into the shed and returned thirty seconds later dragging out a canoe with two green double-headed oars inside of it. He dragged the canoe out to the shoreline of the lake.

"Here you go! Get in and I will give you girls a push. Paddle around until Miko gives you further instructions." With that being said, Sakura and Hinata stepped into the boat and sat facing each other.

Iruka gave them a boost and they were off.

"Hey Hinata, who do you share a cabin with?" Sakura asked her as they were paddling throughout the river.

"Um…Kiba-san." She said. "He snores pretty loud."

Sakura giggled at Hinata's comment on Kiba. Hinata then looked at Sakura's wrist, only to see a gold bracelet with an emerald and ruby on it and the words 'Daddy's Little Girl' engraved on it.

"Sakura, I like the bracelet."

Sakura looked at her arm and saw that Hinata was talking about her lucky bracelet.

"Oh, thanks. It was a gift from my dad."

Hinata, who was aware of how sensitive that topic was to Sakura, immediately changed the topic by saying pointless thoughts and jokes that weren't even funny. This, in turn, resulted in laughter erupting from both girls.

Sakura and Hinata continued laughing and paddling around the lake. When they looked out around the water, they saw a lot of people in canoes just paddling around aimlessly, as if they had nowhere to go. They also saw Miko and Iruka in a kayak coming up to people and talking randomly. They continued to paddle around the lake freely until Iruka's voice was heard on a bull horn.

"Listen Up! Everybody is to paddle to that tree!" he pointed to a tree that was tied with a yellow and green ribbon. "We are about to begin the races!"

Slowly, every pair showed up at tree. Iruka called on the first two boats. Sakura happened to see Ino and Shikamaru in one of the canoes. _'And she says she doesn't like him, right.'_ Sakura thought.

When the whistle was blown, the two canoes set out into the water. Shikamaru wasn't paddling fast enough which earned quite a few screams from Ino. Ino's anger went up in a heartbeat, causing her to rock the canoe very quickly.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Eventually, both of the canoes came back. Ino and Shikamaru came in second place which resulted in Ino screaming at the latter. Sakura didn't hear it all, but she was sure it had something to do with Shikamaru's lazy attitude towards, well, everything.

The race continued on like that for a while. Sakura and Hinata didn't get called on until last. She really didn't want to compete at all, being that her component was none other than Sasuke and Naruto. Hinata and Sakura were called and both of the girls made their way to the shore line (Sakura albeit reluctantly). Once at the shore line, they came face to face with their opponents, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sakura-chan! Hinata! Are you ready to rock! Or are you ready to roll!" Naruto shouted loud enough for the other occupants of the area could hear him.

"Yeah, let's just do this as fast and smooth as possible." Sakura walked over to the canoe and sat with Hinata following suit.

"Alright! You guys have the same amount of time as everyone else. Be safe and remember, this race has nothing to do with winning! It is just a matter of working together. Begin!"

The whistle was blown and Hinata and Sakura started paddling away. Sasuke and Naruto were hot on their tail by the time the girls were about to turn the canoe to stay on course. The race had been going well until –

_BOOM!_

The sound of thunder echoed all through-out the campsite. Sakura was so startled by this she dropped her oar into the river.

"Dammit!" Sakura stated as her oar began to sink into the water. Sakura had a huge fear of thunder. She looked at her wrist to seek comfort from her lucky bracelet, only to discover that it wasn't there. When she didn't see it on her wrist, she looked into the water to see that it had fallen of her arm when she had thrust her hands into the air at the unexpected roar of thunder. She then began panicking and frantically tried to reach it.

"Sakura-chan, relax. We'll get it later. Right now I think it is best that we just paddle back to the shore!" Hinata shouted over the roaring thunder and the panicking students that seemed to have forgotten about the four lads water rafting. She didn't notice that Sakura's bracelet landed into the water along with the oar.

Thunder clashed again above their heads once more. Hinata and Sakura only had one oar and it began to rain. At first, it came down as a slight drizzle. Then, it quickly transformed pebbles and small ice blocks.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Sasuke and Naruto were ahead of the girls. Unlike them, they had both of their oars and supplies on the boat. Sasuke looked back at Sakura and Hinata who didn't seem to be trying to get out of the lake. Instead he saw their boat slowly drifting to the rocks, which in turn led them to a slight waterfall. Sasuke turned to look a second time when he realized that they only had one oar.

Taking a deep sigh, Sasuke turned to Naruto and spoke firmly "Start paddling the other way."

"Are we going to get Sakura-chan and Hinata?" Naruto asked somewhat shocked.

'_No, we're going to look for treasure'_ Sasuke thought. It was always a mystery to him on how he had managed to befriend Naruto in the first place.

"Teme, you didn't answer my question!" Naruto screamed.

"Stop asking questions and paddle!" He was getting more and more frustrated by the second.

Nonetheless, Sasuke and Naruto reached the two stranded girls in less than 20 seconds. As soon as their boat came into contact, Sasuke grabbed the boat with one hand as if to make sure it didn't drift any further towards the water fall.

"Sasuke-san! We lost one of our oars and the current of this lake is river is getting harder and harder to fight! I think it is because we are too close to the waterfall!" Hinata told him trying to over power the sound of clashing water and thunder. He could sense the panic in her voice. He cocked his head to look at Sakura, only to discover that she looked as if she was zoning out.

He saw a tear slide down her face and something inside his chest tightened. He was going to find out what was wrong with her but first things first, everyone had to get to dry land.

"Teme! The canoe only holds two people! How are we all going to get to land?" Naruto's shouting seemed to have snapped Sakura out of her revere and back into reality.

"I think we should try to anchor this canoe to land. It isn't that far! Sasuke and Naruto, go back! I can handle this!" Sakura stated. She was hurt that she lost one of the closest things to remember her father but she couldn't worry about that yet. Not until Hinata and herself along with Sasuke and Naruto made it to dry land.

Sasuke reached into his canoe and pulled out a rope. He handed the rope to Sakura. "Tie this to your seat very tight." It was a wonder how he managed to keep his cool composure in a time like this. Sakura took the rope and saw Sasuke stand up in his canoe, taking off his shoes and shirt.

"Are you crazy? There is no time for you to go swimming! We are about to-"

"Just hurry up and tie it!" and with that being said, Sasuke grabbed the opposite end of the rope and jumped into the river.

Sakura quickly tied the rope to the chair. She looked behind her to see that Sasuke had made it to land and was tying his end to a stump of what used to be a tree. To her relief, the canoe stopped drifting. Then again to her horror the waterfall was only a short distance away.

With Sasuke safe and Naruto occupying a double-seating canoe, Sakura got an idea.

"Naruto! Take Hinata and you two paddle to the closest land you can reach."

Hinata gave Sakura a grave look. "What about you Sakura-chan?"

Sakura smiled sheepishly at her best friend touched her hand in reassurance. "I'm going to be fine. You hurry up and go with Naruto!"

Hinata didn't look to certain but listened to her anyway. She gave Sakura a quick hug and jumped into the other canoe with Naruto.

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura looked towards Naruto with an emotion that Naruto was incapable of pen-pointing. "I better see you later!"

She understood completely what Naruto meant and sent him thumbs up. She watched as Naruto and Hinata quickly paddled the opposite direction. Sakura turned around only to recognize that she already approached the waterfall.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut. She felt herself going down the drop of the waterfall and waited for the impact of the rocks only to recongize that it never came. She looked down only to see the once canoe caved on the river rocks and float down the rafting river. She then looked up, only to see a large, pale hand gripping her forearm.

Wondering who her savior was, she traced the pale hand up to the soaked wet black wife-beater(which to her liking displayed a _very_ nice washboard) to a stunning face and straight into those onyx eyes that she was beginning to know all too well.

'_Thank You, Sasuke-kun.'_

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Whew! All done! I know, I'm a horrible person. I left you at another cliffy…**

**Sucks.**

…**.**

**Bleh! Life sucks so get over it!- cue evil laughter-**

**No worries, next chapter will come out based on how many reviews I get. If I get a lot of reviews in the next two days, then you get your next chapter in the next few days. If not, then I guess you will have to wait another month…**

**:(**

**Oh, next chapter has quite a bit of fluff. Sasuke Sakura fluff! So brace yourself!**

**Thanks and I hope I see some reviews!**

**Princess Bhria :)**


	5. Chapter 5: Comfort

**I'm Alive! Yes. It has been six long, tiring and somewhat sad months, but I shall explain that at the end of this chapter. I already deprived you long enough of an update. So, without further ado, tada!**

'_Thank You, Sasuke-kun.'_

Sasuke effortlessly hauled the dangling Sakura onto the ground where he stood. After slowly releasing her hand, he turned away from her and began to walk in no direction in particular. Sakura, who didn't want to be alone, didn't hesitate to follow him.

"Sasuke-kun" Sakura called disturbing the somewhat peaceful silence " how are we going to get back to camp?"

Sasuke turned to glance at Sakura. It was true that it was getting dark and the rain continued to pour heavily. It was also true that in less than an hour it would be impossible to find their cabins. After a few moments he turned to Sakura. " In the morning. For now, we are going to stay here."

"Here? Where is _here?"_ Sakura stated in confusion.

"What does it look like?" Sasuke and Sakura continued to walk until they came upon what appeared to be a somewhat old shed.

'_A shed? Out here?' _ Sasuke thought. He stopped a few feet in front of it and Sakura followed suit. He then began to advance towards the front door of the shed.

Sakura sensing his actions became worried. He can't just walk into someone's home? Did he not have any home training?

"Sasuke-kun, you can't go in there? This place belongs to somebody! It would be wrong of you to just trespass and-"

"Do you intend to stay out here in the storm all night?" he asked Sakura who sadly looked towards the ground. "I thought not." Sasuke continued to open the door.

Sasuke stepped inside the shed with a reluctant Sakura behind him. The shed looked as if it had been abandoned for a decent amount of time. There was a purple knitted carpet in the center of the floor. Against one wall was a bed and against the other was a window. There was an oak dresser against the back wall that was missing one drawer. A little compact fridge was located in one corner. There also was a door, which Sasuke presumed to be the bathroom.

"Hello?" Sakura called out into the dark shed. When she received no answer, she decided to give it another try. "Hello?"

Sasuke released an exasperated sigh and turned to look at Sakura, who continued to host a fear-full and reluctant expression on her face.

"Nobody's here if you haven't noticed."

"Oh…" Sakura looked down in embarrassment and begin to look at the carpet (that automatically became the most eye-catching thing in the shed).

"We're staying here for the night." Sasuke closed the shed door and locked it. He then put the bag he had on his shoulder on the floor.

"Umm…Sasuke-kun?"

"What is it?"

"Thank You" Sakura said, her cheeks turning red as earlier events replayed in her head.

"..Hn."

Sakura walked over to the bed and took off her flip flops (which happened to be really dirty). Sasuke walked over to the window and stood there gazing out of the foggy, dirty glass.

"You can sleep in the bed. There are sheets and a blanket in the dresser." He walked over to the compact fridge and opened it, only to find that it was completely empty. He then walked over to the corner where there was a large, dirty cloth on the floor and draped it over the window, making the shed completely dark. Looking down at his attire and feeling uncomfortable, he took off his wet, black wife beater and draped it across the metal bar that was situated above the window.

He handed Sakura a white T-shirt from his bag. "You might want to change out of that." He stated, nodding his head at Sakura's wet attire.

Sakura accepted the shirt with a small 'thank you' and quickly changed when Sasuke was looking the other way. She was truly grateful that the shed was really dark. The darkness hid Sasuke's celestial abs (which were still open for her wondering eyes). Not wanting to stare at him, she walked over to the dresser and saw that there was one sheet and one comforter. She put the sheet on the bed and gave Sasuke the comforter.

"Here." Sakura held out the huge comforter in her arms.

"I don't need that." Sasuke sat on the floor against the wall and closed his eyes.

"You are going to get sick. It's a little chilly and your hair is wet." Sakura then casted her eyes towards the floor "and…your umm…shirtless."

"What's your point?"

"Your cold and I have a sheet."

Sasuke gazed at her with an emotion that Sakura could not make out for two reasons: one, it was not an emotion that she was used to seeing on Sasuke two, it was a little too dark for her to decipher anything clearly.

" I don't want the blanket. Take. It." It was clear that he was getting frustrated with Sakura.

Sensing the irritation in his voice, Sakura walked back over to the bed and set the comforter on it. she then sat at the foot of the bed. For some reason she just could not sleep. It was indeed true that she was completely drained from of all of today's activities, but she was comfortable, yet. She had a few things she wanted to ask Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, are you awake?" she said very quietly.

"…No. Go to sleep."

"I just wanna ask you a question."

Sakura could see Sasuke lift his head "You did already."

"Stupid chicken" Sakura muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Sasuke said. Sakura could have sworn she could hear him smirk.

"…Nothing." She laid down on her back "Do you think Naruto and Hinata are okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Don't know, don't care."

"Sasuke, how can you not care? Naruto is your best friend and you-"

"fine. He is fine. Happy?" Sasuke said in his usual husky, monotone voice.

"…I guess." Sakura sighed. She was becoming very cold and she refused to use the sheet or the blanket to shield her body from the cold (since Sasuke refused to take one). She then curled up into the shirt he gave her. _'Wow, Sasuke-kun's shirt smells really good. I wonder if that is how he smells?'_ Sakura thought.

"you know," Sasuke's voice interrupted her thoughts "Maybe you should try using the blanket. That way, you wont shiver."

"I'm not shivering or shake….shake…i..ing."

"Why, Sasuke?" he heard Sakura's soft voice mutter. Shaking his head because of exasperation, he sighed.

"Why what, Sakura?"

Sakura blushed at the way her named rolled off his tongue. "Why did you save me?"

"Somebody had to."

"But…you didn't have to." She said somewhat sadly.

"Don't worry about it. Go to sleep." Sasuke had no idea why he continued to talk to her. All he knew was…well, he really wasn't sure of anything at the moment.

"I cant sleep."

Sasuke sighed "Why not?"

"Well, its just…I can't… because…. My lucky braclet…it fell and now…its…_gone." _Not long after she said that Sasuke swore he heard sniffles.

'_Bracelet?'_ Sasuke remembered Sakura crying earlier when they were kaneoing around the stream. He also remembered a bracelet that looked similar to the one Sakura wore in front of him when he jumped out of the boat. He looked up at Sakura, who had her back turned towards him and stood up. Grabbing the shorts he ahd on earlier( he changes really fast) he reached into his pocket and found a bracelet. He then walked to Sakura's bed.

"This" Sasuke said and put the bracelet in front of her. Sakura looked and saw her beloved bracelet in front of her. _'How! Sasuke-kun! He…had it?' _after staring at her bracelet for a while, she turned to thank him only to find that he was once again situated against the wall.

Sakura stood up and walked over to Sasuke's spot, taking a seat right next to him. She used the oversized t-shirt Sasuke gave her to keep her legs warm.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked allowing one millisecond of confusion to sound in his voice.

"Sleeping next to you."

"You're cold. Get the blanket." He said firmly.

"I'm fine Sasuke-kun. Don't worry."

'_Why would I worry?'_ "Just go get the blanket."

"No."

"Whatever."

Moments of silence past. Sasuke could feel the cool radiating from sakura. She was so cold, he was beginning to get cold from feeling her shiver. A brief moment later, Sasuke got up, grabbed the comforter from off the bed and draped it over Sakura.

"I really don't want to use that." Sakura said taking it off. Before she could remove the comforter completely, she felt her body being slightly lifted off the ground, only to find that her lifter was Sasuke. Sasuke put Sakura in his lap and encircled his arms around her.

"Better?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

Sakura, who appreciated the dark more and more, turned very red. She couldn't get up but that was okay with her (she really didn't want to get up anyway). She could feel Sasuke's abs against her side and 0ne of his hands, which now rested on her leg. She then decided to kiss Sasuke on the cheek, immediately grabbing his attention.

"Night, Sasuke-kun" Sakura said as she laid her head on his shoulder. She grabbed his hand and held it.

Instead of jerking his hand away, Sasuke laid his head on top of Sakura's, who then grabbed the comforter from off the floor beside her and draped it over her and Sasuke.

There was a blissful silence, as sleep was finally beginning to come over Sakura.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun" Sakura said before sleep finally took over her.

Sasuke felt could feel her body heave up and down. He squeezed the hand that Sakura held onto and after a few moments whispered "Your welcome."

He didn't notice the teardrop that slid down Sakura's cheek.

**Finished! I hope you liked this chapter. I apologize for not updating in centuries. Quite a few incidents (deaths) have occurred in my family. My best friend also just moved away, which is more reason for my sorrow. Thank You to all of my reviews and viewers. You don't know how much you have helped me (though it was God who did the majority of it). I am truly grateful and I love you all so much! (I mean it!!********) I am going to try to give up another chapter before the year is out. **

**Thanks and Please Review!**

**Princess Bhria**


	6. Chapter 6: The Stars

Sasuke awoke to the sound of chirping birds and an abhorrent amount, yet amazingly beautiful, of sunrays shining through the lone window of the shed. His hair, which was able to maintain its chicken butt persona despite the previous day activities and weather, was only slightly damp along with his jeans. The sudden memories from the previous day quickly flooded his thoughts. Coming out of his trance he figured he would stretch only to notice a small, visibly porcelain hand clutching his larger one like a lifeline. He looked down at the rosette-haired female that rested comfortably in his lap. His head had been resting on top of hers and his arms were securely around her waist. He could feel her damp hair somewhat sticking to his bare chest. He also felt the warmth that emitted from her smaller body. Sasuke noticed a loose strand of hair that dangled in front of her face. As he went to remove the strand, he stopped himself and only one coherent thought played repeatedly in his mind like a broken record:

'_What is wrong with me?'_

Not wanting to disturb the sleeping girl in his arms, he decided that he would wait patiently -- despite his impatient personality -- until the she awakened on her own.

* * *

Whatever Sakura was sleeping on was very comfortable – that was something she would not deny. It was also unbelievably warm and smelled strongly of a brand of cologne that she could not identify. Too tired to actually get up, she decided to snuggle into whatever it was that she was sleeping on. Trying to go back into a deep slumber was pointless; that fact was confirmed when her body took it upon itself to release yawn that would definitely leave her wide awake. _'Oh well, I guess it's time to get up.' _ Sakura was about to use her hand to stifle another yawn when she noticed that her left hand was encased by a large, warm pale one. She then noticed that two long, muscular arms were securely encased around her waist. The previous night events suddenly flooded her brain and Sakura almost stopped breathing. It was all clear to her now. She was not sleeping on something—she was sleeping on _someone_.

The human ice cube and heart throb of Konoha High School, Sasuke Uchiha.

After mentally cursing her life, she finally managed to gain enough courage to look up, only to look right into the open eyes of a _shirtless_ Sasuke, who was looking at her with raised eyebrows.

" Umm…morning?" Sakura inwardly cringed as her morning salutation came out as a squeaky question verses an actual statement. Sasuke continued to look at her with a blank face. However, when Sakura looked at his onyx eyes, she noticed that there was an unreadable emotion. Slowly a smirk assembled across his masculine face.

"Sleep well?" he asked with amusement lacing in his tone.

"Uh…" Sakura figured that she would be able to speak clear, coherent sentences if he was out of her personal space. When she decided to stand up, she recognized that he did indeed release her hand from his hold, yet his arms had yet to be removed from around her waist, and Sakura was having trouble forming sentences… and _breathing._ The fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt was not helping her cause.

"I slept w-well" she stammered in a tone that barely passed as a whisper, and if Sasuke did not have sharp hearing, he definitely would not have heard her. Sakura suddenly felt herself rising and noted that Sasuke took it upon himself to lift the both of them from their position on the floor. When they were standing straight up, she noticed that his arms were still wrapped around her waist. He continued to hold her for a moment, not saying anything. Sakura was glad to be off of the floor but couldn't understand why he didn't let her go. Before she could voice her question, Sasuke slowly dragged his hands off of her waist and proceeded to walk over to the abandoned comforter on the floor (that was very warm last night to Sakura's utter pleasure) proceeded to pick it up and place back on the bed. Sakura shuttered from the ghost touch that lingered long after his hands were gone.

Sasuke walked over to the bar above the window to grab his clothing he hung the previous night to dry. "We should start heading back to camp." He said throwing his shirt on. Sakura looked down at her attire and realized that she was wearing _his_ shirt that he lent to her last night. If she walked backed into camp wearing his clothing, they would definitely be questioned about their whereabouts (not to mention the billion and one questions from Ino). So, she decided to avoid any more embarrassing situations and change back into her shirt. She didn't worry about Sasuke looking at her since he was too busy tidying up the shed. When her regular shirt was back on, she folded his white shirt and handed it to Sasuke, who was ready to leave. He took his shirt and placed it in his bag. After picking up his bag, he opened the shed door and proceeded to leave. Sakura grabbed her flip-flops and ran after him.

The walk back to the camp was easy and peaceful for Sakura. It was rather early in the morning and with only the two of them in the woods, it was rather quiet. After walking in silence for ten minutes she decided that she was bored and thought that maybe she could start a conversation with Sasuke (completing ignoring the fact that he was socially constipated).

"Ne, Sasuke-kun." She looked at her wrist and saw her lucky bracelet "Thanks again for getting my bracelet back. I don't know what I would have done without it."

It was a few moments before Sasuke decided to say something to her "Why did you cry over it?" Sakura knew that he was speaking about her bracelet and after contemplating on whether or not to tell him, she spoke.

"It's…it's my only connection with my father. He passed away from cancer on my thirteenth birthday... this was his gift to me." She finished sadly finding a sudden interest on the grass and various plants scattered all over the forest floor.

Sasuke observed Sakura from the corner of his eye. She looked like she was desperately trying focus on anything but the topic at hand. He was beyond shocked when he felt his chest tighten. He didn't understand why, but he knew that he felt some feeling of remorse towards her.

"He should be proud of you."

Sakura looked at Sasuke dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"

"You put your friend's safety before your own. You are also here safe now." Sasuke slowly turned his head to look at Sakura.

Sakura was at a loss of words. Sasuke never met her father, yet he spoke as if he knew him all of his life. A sudden, sincere smile appeared across her face "Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

"I wasn't saying that to make you feel better. I was being honest" he scoffed and turned his head away. He didn't know why his face began to heat up at her sincere appreciation towards his comment.

"Hey Sasuke-kun" Sakura felt her attitude change from sad to amusing "I bet you are a hardcore romantic, aren't you?" Sakura felt strangely giddy after having a short, serious semi conversation with Sasuke, for reasons unknown.

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You're crazy."

"Mhmm…you probably have all of Shakespeare's plays. Oh! I bet you recite all of his sonnets before you go to bed, don't you?" Sakura said. She jumped in front of him causing him to stop. She was directly in front of him now and he looked down on her as his tall figure towered over her.

Sasuke chose to say nothing but walk around her. Sakura, who failed miserably at attempting to keep him still, smiled inwardly to herself. After standing still for a moment, she ran up to Sasuke and stood in front of him again.

"It's okay you know. You can come out of the closet. I am not one to judge" Sakura laughed as Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. He looked as if he was trying desperately to hold back his comments of her previous statement. He walked around her and continued to walk back towards the camp.

Sakura made an effort to make her voice sound manly in an attempt to sound like Shakespeare "From you have I been absent…" She made a dramatic pause "in the spring. When proud pied April dressed in all his trim. Hath a spirit of youth in every-"

"Shut Up." Sasuke snapped at her. Sakura didn't seem to catch (or rather, chose to ignore) the underlying threat in his voice.

"That's not your favorite sonnet from- woah!" She never had a chance to finish mocking Sasuke when she tripped over a root sticking up from out of the ground and ungracefully fell to the forest floor. When she looked up, she saw that Sasuke had indeed stopped walking and was looking at her, amusement clearly evident in his eyes.

'_Crap. Why'd I have to fall and…oh my god! Is that a beetle on my hand! Ugh, Fudge my Life.' _She thought scornfully, unknowingly making constant facial expressions.

"Are you okay, _Sakura-chan._" It was evident in the way that he said her name that he was mocking her.

Sakura looked at Sasuke, her lips twisted into a frown. " Oh, yeah, don't bother to help me up. I am completely able of helping myself after falling flat on my face."

"That's good to know. I wasn't going to help you up anyway…if it's any consolation." He continued while walking away.

Sakura, who was temporarily blinded by her fury, picked up a small, shiny rock and smiled evily. She tossed the rock into the air a few times and, with as much power as she could muster, chucked it at the back Sasuke's head. When the rock collided with his head, she couldn't help but laugh.

"What. The. hell!" Sasuke snapped his head in her direction, anger evident all over his face.

"Serves you right, Sasuke-_chan._" Sakura stated with triumph as she trotted past Sasuke, bumping him in the process.

She continued to walk for a while until she recognized that she did not hear footsteps behind her. Sasuke was stood unmoving and looked at Sakura with the intent to kill. Slowly, he raised his head to look her straight in the eye causing a shiver to travel up her spine. The menacing look in his eyes was enough for Sakura to fear for her life.

"…Run,

Sakura took off running in the direction the pair were previously going, with Sasuke hot on her trail.

* * *

It was afternoon when Sasuke and Sakura finally got back to the campsite. Upon their arrival, Sakura could see a few people swimming in the lake, a group of guys and girls talking animatedly amongst themselves, Miko speaking with Gai and Kakashi and everyone else on the camp grounds minding their own business. She could also see Hinata and Ino chatting by the river.

Sakura turned to look at Sasuke who appeared to be zoning out. She stood on the tip of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you later Sasuke-kun!" she said before she ran towards the direction of Ino and Hinata.

"Hinata! Ino- pig!" At the mention of the girls' names they both stood up and saw Sakura running towards them.

"Forehead! Oh my god where were you! You have a TON of explaining to do!" Ino all but yelled to Sakura, who tried her hardest not to blush and ignore the loud-mouth blonde. Sakura sat down with Hinata and Ino and casted her eyes upon the water.

"Okay, so what the hell happened! One minute you and Hina were racing against Naruto and Sasuke, and the next minute Hina comes back with Naruto and you and Sasuke are NOWHERE to be seen! Where the heck did you go?! What were you thinking!"

"I…" Sakura quieted for a moment as if to gather her thoughts "The thunder kind of frightened me and I dropped one of our oars into the water." She began to play with the grass she was sitting on. "Our boat was drifting towards the falls and I didn't…I wasn't…" she never finished.

"Sakura-chan was l-lo-looking out for me, when she should h-have looked out for herself." Hinata looked at Sakura who seemed to be in a daze "Thank you so much, Sakura-chan." Sakura gave Hinata a kind warm, smile.

"So" Ino looked at Sakura, "what was that entire fiasco with Sasuke about?" At the mention of Sasuke's name, Sakura looked at Ino who had a smirk across her face.

"Um, Sasuke…he" she took in a deep breath and looked at Ino. So many emotions were swelling in Sakura's viridian eyes and Ino became shocked at her next words "He saved my life."

Hinata turned her back to her friends. She could see Naruto and Kiba talking in the distance. Sasuke was standing near the two, his eyes locked on Sakura's back. Hinata couldn't help but smile. She turned her attention back to her rosette haired friend and saw her, once again, in a daze. Her eyes traveled until she saw Sakura's wrist, where her bracelet was nicely intact. Her eyes widened.

"S-Sakura!"

Sakura turned her attention to her pearled-eyed friend, whose eyes were as wide as golf balls, and watched as her hand grabbed the wrist where her beloved bracelet was. "H-how!?"

Ino was now utterly confused. Hinata and Ino both knew of the value behind that bracelet. They were there the day in the hospital when Sakura received the bracelet from her father. Yet, Ino couldn't see why her bracelet was such a big deal to Hinata at the moment.

"How'd you get it back?" Hinata asked looking intensely at Sakura.

"What do you mean '_back_'? Where did it go?" Ino ask, hoping that one of the girls would clear her confusion.

After a pregnant pause Sakura responded "It fell into the river with the oar. When Sasuke saved me, he gave it back to me." Sakura looked at Hinata and Ino "I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't given it back to me."

There was a comfortable silence now between the three girls. Although Sakura didn't go into detail about the events between Sasuke and herself, they knew that she probably looked at Sasuke as her savior. Ino smiled at her inner thoughts and decided that she had enough being serious. It was time to for her to play the infamous role of cupid.

"So, Sakura-hime" Ino began as Sakura narrowed her eyes at the pet name. "What exactly did you and Sasuke _do _when you both were in the woods, hmm?"

Sakura looked at Ino's eyes and saw nothing but mischief in them. "Nothing." She eyed Ino "We found shelter and waited the storm off there."

"Shelter… interesting right Hinata?" Hinata looked at Ino and grinned. She knew what Ino was trying to do and could only be amused at her best friend's exotic antics.

"Yes actually. It was a shed."

"Oh….a _shed._ Did this shed happen to be…furnished, Sakura?" Ino looked at Sakura who had momentarily closed her eyes.

"…Yes" she responded albeit reluctantly and opened her eyes. "Why?"

Ino showed a grin that would put the Cheshire cat's to shame and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, sheds are normally small. So, I am going to say that it is safe to assume that you and Sasuke had a little-"

"DON'T EVEN FINISH THAT STATEMENT PIG!" Sakura abruptly stood up and pointed at Ino. "You are a sick, twisted bastard sometimes. Did you know that?"

"Wait a minute, Sakura. How did you even know what I was going to say?" Sakura's face paled as Ino laughed. She nudged Hinata "Hinata, she is definitely guilty of something."

"EH!" Sakura's face immediately went red. Ino took this opportunity to stand up and had a satisfied smirk on her face. "Okay…so what happened Mrs. I-am-so-very-GUILTY? ...or is it safe to say Mrs. Uchiha… ?" She laughed at the expression on Sakura's face and helped Hinata up to her feet.

"I didn't do anything! I mean he- _we_ did nothing Ino!" Sakura practically screamed.

"What didn't we do Sakura-chan?" Naruto said as Shikamaru, Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke walked towards the girls.

"Sakura was just about to explain to us her little-" Ino never had a chance to finish when Miko's extremely loud voice bustled throughout the campsite.

"Heeeelllllllooooo Campers! We are not going to meet up again until tonight. Everyone meet at the campfire pit at eight o'clock! Thank you and have fun til then!" Miko looked around at the group of campers that looked at her as if she were crazy, and laughed slightly.

Sasuke turned his back on the group and began to walk in the direction of his cabin.

"Yo, teme! Where are you going!" Naruto shouted to Sasuke, who was walking away in the direction of his cabin.

"Cabin" was all Sasuke said as he continued his trek towards his cabin. He turned to look at Sakura, who caught his gaze and pretended to focus on anything except him. Shikamaru, who was the only one not engaged in a conversation with the rest of the group, noticed the silent exchange between the two, but made no mention of it.

"_Interesting…" _was all Shikamaru thought.

Sakura watched Sasuke's retreating back until it was no longer in sight. _"He's probably going to go freshen up"_ she thought. She looked at her current attire. A shower seemed like a very good idea at that moment; however, Sakura decided that she would wait a while before she would freshen up since she did indeed share a cabin with Sasuke and he was already there. She wanted to try to avoid more embarrassing situations involving him.

* * *

Sakura felt refreshed after a nice hot bath. She had changed into a white baby doll dress with red polka dots and red cropped leggings. She had pinned most of her hair up, leaving only a few strands in the front to frame her face. Her feet were adorned with white and red Chinese slippers. Satisfied with her look, she walked out of the cabin towards the area where everyone was told to meet up that night. When she arrived she saw Ino speaking with Shikamaru, who was looking up at the starry sky only glancing at Ino every once in a while.

'_They are so cute together.' _She smiled at her inner thought. She continued to look around where she saw Naruto watching from a distance as Kiba showed Hinata how to start a fire by rubbing sticks together. He was behind Hinata while she sat on a log with both of his hands on her smaller ones, vigorously rubbing two sticks together. Hinata laughed whenever she Kiba shook her, causing Kiba to smile behind her. After failing (a numerous amount of times) to start the fire, Kiba felt upset and embarrassed. Sakura observed Hinata try to assure Kiba that she was okay with their epic failure. Eventually Kiba came to the same grounds as Hinata and sat next to her, chatting about something that Sakura could not hear from where she observed them.

Sakura was shocked when she looked at Naruto's expressions. First she saw an expression on his face that showed nothing other than anger, which quickly contorted to something similar to envy. He smiled when Kiba failed to make the fire, but his smile quickly diminished as Hinata tried to assure Kiba. The look on his face was akin to hurt. '_I'm going to have to question him about that later.'_ She continued to look around the camp. She did not see Sasuke anywhere insight and she figured that he wasn't at the camp site yet. She decided that she would sit next to Naruto and keep him company.

"Hey Naruto!" she stated happily as she took a seat next to him on the log he was sitting on.

Snapping out of his trance he plastered a smile on his face. "Sakura-chan! You're here pretty early."

"How can you say _I _am early, and you were here before me?" she looked at Naruto with a mix of awe and amusement on her face.

"I don't know. It just seemed fitting to say."He looked up at the sky "Look at the all the stars. It's beautiful."

Sakura smiled as she remembered a fond childhood memory. She remembered when she would look at the stars every night with her father. Her father used to tell stories about the different god's in the skies. She remembered him telling her that if she was every lost and needed him the most, that is where she would find him. That's how the stars became her guide. She found hope, peace, answers and love whenever she looked to the stars.

"_Remember angel. Whenever you look to the stars, I promise you I will be there." _Her father's voice echoed in her head. At the memory of her father, she felt water drops hit her hands.

She was mildly surprised to find that she was crying. Naruto looked at Sakura and didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her.

"I can't reach him, Naruto." She quietly sobbed "I will never be able to reach him again."

He was unsure of what she was talking about, but that wasn't important to him at the moment. There was nothing he could do but try his hardest to console his friend, despite being broken apart on the inside himself.

Unknowingly to them, a pair of onyx eyes watched Naruto and Sakura from his position, sitting against a tree, a mere few feet away.

* * *

Eh Violà! I know that you waited an EXTREMELY long time for this chapter. I apologize for the lack of updating. I am happy to say that everything is okay now with my life outside of FanFiction. I also have much more time on my hands since it is still summer. I intend to update probably on my birthday, which is in a few weeks :)  
I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. I truly apologize if it didn't, I am deeply sorry. But once again, thank EVERYONE that send me message or reviewed. It is all thanks to you that I have this chapter.

Ja Ne!

Princess Bhria


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